Children of Corry

L to R ~ Julia, William, Vernie, and Bertha Dunn

I suspect that the dolls in this photo were the photographer’s props.  If so, I pity the person who had to pry that doll out of the hands of what appears to be an already very grumpy little girl.

Featured in this cabinet card image are the children of Benjamin and Eliza (nee Porter) Dunn.  Bertha, Julia, William, and Mary LaVerne “Vernie” grew up in Pleasantville and Corry in northwestern Pennsylvania.

I wonder what it was like for William Dunn, growing up with three sisters.  Did they baby him or boss him?  I bet it was a little of both.  He must have dearly loved his sister, Julia, who in the photo has her hand resting on his shoulder, as he named one of his daughters after her.  William lived in the Detroit and Mt. Clemens, Michigan area where he worked as a toolmaker in an auto plant and as a minister.  His grave marker is engraved Rev. William Dunn with an interesting epitaph “Until Maranatha.”   In Aramaic, this roughly translates to “the Lord is coming.”

In 1905, Julia “Ella” Dunn wed Charles Louis Auer, who worked in various positions, including currier, in his family’s leather manufacturing business.  The couple had four children and made their home in Corry.  Julia died at age 71 and is buried beside her husband in Pine Grove Cemetery.

At the age of 21, Bertha, the oldest of the four Dunn siblings, married Ancil Likens, an engineer who worked with her father at Standard Oil.  The couple raised their four children in Indiana.  Bertha lived to be 88 years old, sadly outliving her daughter, Esther, who died of a heart attack at the age of 32.

What was life like for grumpy, little Vernie?  She married Winfield Kircher.  The couple operated a very successful greenhouse business and raised two children.

April 1, 1977 ~ The Crescent News, Defiance, OH

Vernie died in 1977, aged 90.  And look at the photo from her obituary…she has a little smile!

Sources:
Census records
Find a Grave
Indiana marriage and death records
Pennsylvania death certificates
Michigan marriage and death records